Tuesday, February 27, 2007

get married in vegas...end of story!!

Okay. Yes. I'm changing my tune...somewhat. I'm still getting married at the court house, but when the horse and carriage came around the corner, behind the gazebo and in front of the audience at Caron's wedding, everyone was stunned, making a Vegas wedding purely worth it. I even knew it was happening and was still stunned. (Well done keeping the secret don't you think?) So when she stepped out of the carriage and Kory walked down the aisle to assist his bride...wow o wow...a unity sweet sigh escaped the lips of all the guests. (Oh dang it! I vowed not to use the word "UNITY" through this whole thing...all I can hear is Dave Chapelle squealing "Unity" in what became the unity slogan of the weekend. :)

From the cake (which I completely forgot about once I dove into the delectable chocolate dripping from the three tiered fountain) to the flowers to the pictures to the buffet to the DJ, The Secret Garden staff at the Las Vegas Racquet Club are experts at weddings.

Eat, drink, and be merry...and we'll take care of little details seems to be the philosophy of the employees. When Caron and I arrived at the Bridal Lounge to change and prepare for the ceremony, our dresses were hung out, the champagne was chilled, and hors d'oeuvres graced the table.

Without a rehearsal, the wedding went smoothly (but seriously, who doesn't know how a wedding should go anyway?) Kevin and I were perfect. All the family was perfect. Pablo Neruda was perfect (not a single tear for those of you who knew my dilemma). Grandma and Shaun said perfect prayers. I think it was all simply perfect. Are there any other words? The only thing missing was a Spanish singing guitar player (which I bet we could have found on the cheap in Vegas!)

As for those CD's I wrote about earlier...they went like hot cakes at a benefit breakfast on a Saturday morning (say that with a twang and follow up with banjo pickin'.)

Bravo Caron and Kory! xoxoxo

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

diet coke and red hots

Erin dated Bobby through our four years of college together. Spring semester of our junior year and thick into field observations and lesson planning, Valentine's Day peeked around the corner. Being youthful (and typical) college girls, we began to speculate days in advance what Erin would get for Valentine's Day.

We set our hopes and expectations high. Forget CD's, or movies, or even the glass bowl and goldfish I once received...we were checking out diamonds and sneaking in conversations about proposal options. In our minds, it was perfect timing. After nearly three years, and college graduation just around the corner, wouldn't a proposal be in order? Of course it would: Yes, Erin...I agree! I'm sure you'll get a ring for Valentine's Day.

Chatting through the entire day and practicing shocked surprise looks in the bathroom mirror, we waited for Bobby to arrive to take Erin on the generic Valentine's date: dinner and a movie.

In her classic Jon Bon Jovi girlfriend look, Erin dolled up and headed out with anticipation of what the night might bring.

At 1:30 a.m., their car returned. Sans Bobby, Erin storms through the front door throwing down her Valentine's gift and exclaiming..."Red hots and Diet Coke?! I got red hots and Diet Coke for Valentine's Day? What am I going to do with that boy?!"

I busted. (And helped myself to both items.) And then tried to console lost dreams and shattered expectations.

But what's a poor college student to do on Valentine's Day but buy his heart's desire her favorite munchie candy and afternoon cola? A thoughtful gift indeed.

I must add the big surprise came two months later during a time when none of us expected it...and it was everything a college girl dreamed it would be...and today...their marriage, going on 13 years, is still everything a college girl dreams it will be.

That's my favorite Valentine's love story because I love both of them and their girls. :)

Hugs and kisses to all on Valentine's Day!

Monday, February 12, 2007

happy birthday granny and jerry...

Oh enlightened ones....hugs and kisses all around for the finest of birthdays. No candles okay.

(Stay tuned...A story about my beloved granny will come soon.)

dirty santa rakes in blog readers

I just have to let everyone know this because it's dang funny.

Maybe you've read my dirty, Dirty, DIRTY Santa blog about my family's Christmas game. Maybe you haven't, but this story is still great, so read on and go ahead and giggle when you feel it coming.

On my bravenet counter, I can see how people access my blog (you can too if you click on it at the bottom of the page.)

Let's say you forgot my address and went to Google and typed in Journey2Learn. It would show up on Bravenet as you accessed my blog through Google Search. Of course I can't see who it is...just what you search for.

So...the biggest hits on my blog from various search engines come from the keywords dirty santa. No lie.

YES!! People actually search for "dirty santa" and, fortunately, my blog is the second hit that comes up...seems there aren't too many "dirty santa" stories out there. What a massive let down for those searchers to read about gift exchanges and hot cocoa over the naughty details about Santa's day off or how Santa Does Seattle.

Seriously though, WHO SEARCHES FOR DIRTY SANTA????!!!!!! Maybe I need to have more "provocative" titles to get more tits...i mean hits. :)

End of story...hope you found it just as amusing as I did. I would tag my sister to comment...and Melanie...and I bet my dad would like to as well...but it seems the blogging world freaks them out when it comes to leaving anonymous comments. :)

Final thought....please, please snow tonight...enough for a snow day.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

get married at the court house...end of story!

Oh the joys of planning a wedding. The last 24 hours my sister and I have been up making 55 CD's on three different computers using seven (a, b, c, d, e, f, and g) playlists from itunes. And when things would go smoothly for a couple of hours, invariably a computer would freeze, a kitty would walk across the keyboard, or the cd-rom would go nuts. What a mess! For the love of life...why are computers so complicated?! And all this for wedding guests at the upcoming nuptials in Vegas. Hardly worth it! (But I have uploaded some great songs through the project.)

Sister's done all the research. She had songs in mind and spent the better part of last night placing them in just the right order. From Dean Martin to Eartha Kitt, from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, from Louis Armstrong to Rosie Thomas, from Hank Williams to the delightful little Norah Jones, we put 28 of some of the greatest 'i-love-my-honey" songs ever recorded. (Insert moment to vomit.) Johnny Walks the Line and then sings along with June to Jackson and 'Cause I Love You (which, for a love song, is one of the best ever in my book....seriously, what man would bring me honey from the beech tree in the meadow? Great lyrics, Johnny!) Tammy Wynette belts out Stand by Your Man (never would I put this on my own CD), and Nancy Wilson reminds us that You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (and I don't think she was talking about her house pets.) Hank fiddles out Baby, We're Really in Love...wow! Hank Williams with a real love song! And, of course, Ms. Etta James closes the CD with At Last...and I'm sure Caron and Kory's life will definitely "be like a song." But I'm thinking it might be more like Loretta Lynn's Fist City.... :)

So...after hours behind the computer (I did manage to sneak off for a workout at the Y), and listening to phone conversations with the new mother-in-law, I'm 100% sure I will never plan a wedding again. (And hopefully not because I won't ever find that perfect companion, but because we will find ourselves in Vegas, or at the beach, or in Europe and just say, What the heck, let's get married....and in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout, we'll head to Jackson. Undoubtedly, this will make my family nuts, but it will keep my own insanity in check.

Disclosure: I'm all for my future mate planning, organizing, and paying for his dream wedding...I"ll just invite friends and show up for the nuptials if that's the way he wants it. :)

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

5 jag dollars and a gingerbread house

I had to be gone from work today. But don't think I didn't work. A teacher is never off the clock, although my sister did try to convince me of that today while we were enjoying a relaxing afternoon at Mojo Pie (where Kristen is the creme-de-la-creme of hair stylists.)

So away from work, all I could think about was work. What are the kids doing now? Are they working? Did I leave enough for the sub? Who's getting out of class and wandering the halls? Are they telling lies? Telling secrets? Are they putting frogs in my desks and snakes in my cabinets? My mind goes in a thousand directions.

There's one class I'm particularly worried about...and that's my film literacy class. Simply put, they are a bunch of goofballs. They love movies, politics, religion, music, and food. More importantly, they love talking about movies, politics, religion, music, and food. The last class period I was there they talked about Viva Tortilla, a new Mexican place, (..."with sonic-like qualities" Joe adds), waking up early, snow days, Hillary Clinton, tattoos, and fortunately, the film Rocky (which we just happened to be viewing for a theme study on the value of taking a chance.)

And then an odd thing happens. Throughout all of this conversation, Billy pulls a box from his duffel bag. With its child-like bubble letters and brightly colored exterior, I thought it was the game Candyland, like i used to play at the babysitters house. But no, it was a gingerbread house cake kit, complete with gum drops, peppermints, candy buttons, gingerbread cake walls, floor, and roof, and a rather large 'bag o' frosting.'

Colin, eyeing the gum drops, opens the bag and offers them around the room. Soon, the entire class has their own slice of the something from the gingerbread house kit, and finally, curiosity getting the best of me, I ask Billy, "Where did you get this?"

"I bought it," he responds matter-of-factly, "for five JAG dollars."

The class erupts.

JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates) is a national non-profit program within our school to offer alternative education. Our JAG instructor does all sorts of neat things with her students, and offering them opportunities throughout the semester to earn "JAG dollars" and spend them in the JAG store is one of them.

I had no idea one could buy a Gingerbread House Kit in the JAG store. In fact, I'm not sure I even know where to buy a Gingerbread House Kit in any store. But Billy, saving his JAG money, decided this would be the best investment for him on Tuesday, and I think my Film Literacy class certainly agreed.

Who knows what they brought today. I just hope the sub could handle it.